Working with Images

NOTE: I am planning to do a lot more here using also work on Photobooks and Manuals I do for work. Linked to the discussion on grids and layout. Linking back also to the work on Fanzines in Part 1.

The type of book will in many respects determine the sort of images and also the approach used.

Images may be of many different types – line drawings in colour or monochrome, photographs, artwork produced in Digital Software like Illustrator or Photoshop.

Image resolution: images need to be scanned at high resolution for printing purposes. 300dpi is a general rule of thumb. But the resolution required will depend on the particular printer, print process and also effect required.

Copyright: it is important to ensure that Copyright is available. Large publishing houses usually have a picture research department to deal with this and quality issues, but freelance designers may have to obtain copyrights themselves or use their own images.

Ways of integrating images: Images can be ‘full bleed’ (running over the page), cut-out, treated as a vignette, put in a box.